The present invention relates generally to the field of resource management within a building, and more particularly to utilizing occupant feedback to affect resource management within a building.
Modern buildings are often comprised of various zones (e.g., areas of control). The area of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) control zone can be different from the area of a lighting control zone. A building controlled by a building automation system (BAS) is often referred to as an “intelligent” building or a “smart” building. In a smart building, sensors often replace individual control units, such as pneumatic thermostats or other sensing/control units distributed within a zone. Sensors can be networked to a central BAS providing for real-time monitoring and control of a plurality of control units as opposed to pneumatic sensors or other local sensing/control units. A non-BAS HVAC system may have sensors within the ductwork and utilize dampers controlled by wall-mounted thermostats, which may be located in a main isle or an unoccupied office.
Energy related control policies for buildings, such as HVAC policies, lighting schedules, and set points are typically defined and imposed by facility managers based on their own experience or an industry standard, such as comfort models described in an AHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers) handbook. For example, environmental controls for a HVAC system primarily focus on temperature, relative humidity, and airflow. Additional environmental considerations within a HVAC system may include: filtration, odor regulation, ionization, disinfection, and energy recovery. The environmental concerns of the occupants of one zone within a building or facility can differ from other occupants in another zone. For example, the primary facility concerns for a data center area may be cooling and humidity control (e.g., static electricity mitigation); the primary facility controls for a lab may include filtration, ionization, and disinfection for the HVAC. Areas that have transitory occupants, for example, a lobby or cafeteria may tolerate larger environmental variations.